Wells Fargo Horses

Terry Keir

In the nineteenth century, the sight of galloping horses pulling a stagecoach brought people to Wells Fargo for mail, packages, and news. Today the sight of two large, white horses in front of a stagecoach brings people — especially children — into the Wells Fargo History Museum in Minneapolis.

Located on the skyway level of the Wells Fargo building in Minneapolis , people walk past the museum every day. But since last December, the two horses keep catching people's attention and drawing them inside — both children and adults want to look at and touch them.

Seems everyone's fascinated by our large stuffed animals.

These large plush ponies have been petted and hugged. There are requests to sit on them ( not allowed — sorry!). The horses have been featured in many photographs over the past few months — people love having their picture taken with the horses. They attract many visitors to the museum, and though some only come in to see how soft the horses are or to take a picture with them, many stay longer to experience the rest of the museum.

There is also one interesting response from many children. As they pat the horses, it's fairly common for children to insert a finger in one of the horse's nostrils.

One day, we were commenting on this phenomenon and wondering what the kids were looking for as they "picked" the horse's nose. We thought it might be amusing to place something in a horse's nostril, and see how long it would take a visiting child to discover it . So we hid a Wells Fargo "gold" coin in a nostril one evening and wondered when it would be found.

Amazingly, the first child that came in the next morning went over to the horses, patted one's nose — and stuck her finger up the nostril containing the coin! It was quite funny, but the look of amazement on the little girl's face was the highlight of the day.

Our ponies are wonderful ambassadors for Wells Fargo. Perhaps they also contributed to Twin Cities Metro Magazine's Skyway Guide naming the Wells Fargo History Museum as "Best Place to Take the Kids." We won by a nose!